Cardiff 10k - 2010

Sunshine in the big city and decent weather for a 10k and the field looked pretty good. I was a bit nervous about my first 10k since last September in Prague (which was horrible in itself), I had a target time in mind of around 30.15-30.30 which I thought would be a solid first outing but didn't start the watch as I didn't want to get bogged down with the splits if they started to go backwards.

Gun went and the legs didn't feel amazing but seemed to be up in the lead group so just tucked in around 20^th I suppose as we went into the park. As usual in the first 'K' there is a lot of movement with some runners going off to fast and going backwards and the better guys finding their position  etc,. Around 2k it started to split in to little groups with the leaders moving away slightly and I ended up in a group of 3...Jon Wills, Richie Gardner and myself. I had no intention of doing any work today, it was my first race without any strapping on my foot, my first 10k and I just wanted to make sure nothing bad happened as there will be plenty of time to move on and take more risks in up coming races. We went through 3k with the two other guys doing the work and swapping at the front, now possibly I should of done a couple of turns as we were going into a slight wind as it did start to feel slow and for about a 'k' I did think quite a few times I am going to hit the front but then changed my mind.

We turned at the top of the road and then headed back in to the park for the second half, again I thought about moving to the front especially as I could see a couple of runners up the road I thought we could possibly catch but each time I would go to move I would have second thoughts....maybe just a confidence issue from lack of racing or something but just played it safe. To be fair to the two guys they didn't really seem to mind like some runners do even when I clipped one of them.

We went past 8k and I decided I was going to do something to try and catch the Scottish guy ahead who was now alone and to see what was in the legs... a tester if you like. I went to the front and just pushed the pace a little bit and planned to just keep knocking it up every minute, went through 9k shortly after going to the front and actually felt better, there was one point through with a slight rise that the legs felt it a bit but lucky I think the other two guys in the group did two and the Scottish lad ahead. It was a long home straight as we turned and tried to relax and keep pushing all the way, at the line I missed the Scottish runner by about a second. I think I finished about 6^th and the unofficial time was 30.35.

In conclusion I suppose I was happy and good to get a 10k under the belt with out the foot hurting with no strapping but it was quite clear I need to push on a bit in the next one and take a few more risks. Lastly I wore the new 'Porthcawl RunnersLife' for the Welsh Championships and was nice to hear people shouting for 'Porthcawl' a town I have lived in all my life and well done to all the other club runners who represented the little town of Porthcawl!

Simx